It’s finally the weekend, which means it’s once again time for us to name our winner and loser from this week in tech.
This week saw the launch of the highly-anticipated God of War (2018) sequel God of War Ragnarök, some very early Pixel 8 leaks and the first lot of Black Friday deals arrive ahead of the huge sale later this month.
Scroll down to discover who we picked as our winner and loser this week…
Winner: LG
Our winner this week is LG after the company unveiled a potentially game-changing new display tech.
The technology, which LG has named the “Stretchable” display, is apparently the world’s first 12-inch high-resolution display to achieve 20% stretchability. This essentially means that the screen can be extended, folded and twisted without suffering from any damage or distortion.
The display, which is based on the same silicon substrate used in contact lenses, uses a micro-LED light source. It has a resolution of 100ppi and supports full-colour RGB, allowing it to compete with many existing monitors, according to the brand.
It’s apparently pretty durable, too. A flexible S-form spring-wired structure allows the screen to be stretched from 12-inches to 14-inches while also withstanding “significant external impacts”.
While we’re likely a way off from seeing this tech put to use in the real world, LG is already envisioning a wide range of scenarios for the stretchable display. For example, it could be attached to curved surfaces, like clothing, furniture, cars, planes and even skin.
With foldable displays making their way onto more and more smartphones and rollable screens on the horizon, it seems only a matter of time before a stretchable device makes its debut.
Loser: Twitter
Twitter has mostly remained steady over the past decade, with its biggest scandals being the large amount of bots that swarm the site and whatever Donald Trump was doing before his account was suspended in 2021.
However, that all changed this week when new owner Elon Musk launched his reimaging of the site’s Twitter Blue subscription service.
For the low price of $7.99/£6.99 a month, you too can now see fewer ads, post longer videos, have your tweets prioritised on the platform and see your account verified with the same blue tick previously reserved for the likes of Joe Biden, the BBC, Beyonce and Musk himself.
Of these features, the blue tick has caused by far the biggest uproar on the site, with many users pointing out the obvious consequences of letting people verify their own accounts for the price of a Starbucks Frappuccino.
We’ve seen verified accounts posting tweets attributed to the likes of Nintendo of America, LeBron James and Jesus Christ himself, and that isn’t even to mention the accounts posing as companies and celebs to spread dodgy links, putting your personal data at risk.
Other sites have made fun of the situation, with Tumblr currently selling a bargain two-pack of “Important Blue Internet Checkmarks” for $7.99 with seemingly no limit to how many you can buy.
As of writing this column on Friday, we’ve noticed that the button that invites you to join Twitter Blue has mysteriously vanished on some of our accounts, with the app now claiming the subscription will be available in our location soon (this wasn’t the case on Thursday).
What all of this means for Twitter Blue has yet to be seen but, in the meantime, you can get a small glimpse of the chaos that ensued on the site this week in this thread.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
